Aaron's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Aaron! First of all I have to say how much I love Aaron. He has been working so hard since we have been here and as much as I mope about not being home, it has been so good for his new computer business for him to be here and get things going. Because of that, we don't see him as much as we did at home so for his birthday he wanted to spend the day with Tay. We decided to take her to the zoo and we all had a really good day!

Tay with her Daddy

Inside the aquarium part of the zoo they had a room with sea creatures you could touch. I totally don't remember this, but after Tay warmed up she did actually end up touching a star fish. Pretty cool stuff!

If you have been to Point Defiance Zoo, you know the aquarium is awesome, but the shark tank is by far the best. Maybe these sharks were sleeping, but I told Aaron they must be pregnant.


The zoo even had a new play area and Tay loved that too!


And of course the nasty petting zoo. (Never been a fan)




This really was a fun day. Later we put Tay to bed and I took Aaron out to a really nice seafood dinner (his fav). Happy Birthday Babe!

Trip to Rexburg

First of all, it feels a little crazy to be writing about a TRIP to Rexburg when that is my home, but unfortunatly that is what it was. Even though we weren't there to stay, we still had a great time with family and were so happy to see our little Brynlee be blessed.

Jacey and Broden were able to come (they were my ride) and it was fun to have all but two of the cousins together. We have recently recruited Ang and Lily and Abbi to come this summer, then we will have all 12 Sillito grandkids together!!

I wasn't able to stay at my own house during this trip, but stayed at Tiff's instead. I am really glad I did that cause it was just more time to spend with fam instead of by myself and since Todd is out of town for a couple months Tiff and I were bed buddies. We had a good time eating snacks, playing games (Dan and Jenni stayed there too) and talking. Except for a trip to the emergency room... it was so fun! (Holland got her head bonked on the corner of the wall, but no worries, no damage!)

Brynlee's baby blessing was so beautiful. She has such a wonderful family and is going to be so happy growing up with such great parents and fun brothers that will take good care of her. I am so looking forward to seeing them all again, especially since we didn't get that much time together. She is such an adorable baby (even if people wonder is she is Mexican :)


Proud Grandma and Grandpa

Thanks Lace and Tiff for taking care of me and Tay that week-end. I miss you both so much and really appreciate all you have done for me while I have been away. Kiss your kids for Aunt Courtney. Love you!

4 Generations

My grandma Randall came to my mom's for Christmas and it had been quite a while since I had seen her. With so few opportunities to see her I am glad we got this picture with four generations of girls. Love you grandma!

Hooray!!

I am just so excited that I had to tell all that I get to go home! Unfortunatly it is just for the week-end, but I will take what I can get. I miss my house, my sisters, their kids and my life so I can't wait to get a taste of all that even if it is just for the week-end!

Hair Cut

Here is Tay's new hair cut. Taylee wasn't cooperating very well and I am still trying to figure out how to do short hair and how to pull out the least amount of her precious hair, but you get the idea right?

I do think it fits her personality and now that I look back at previous pictures I realize I should have cut it a long time ago.

Thanks Aunt Makay for making me so cute!

Come and Gone

Why is it when you need or want your camera most, the battery dies. I guess those of you who are more organized and responsible probably don't have that happen too often, but these are my three pictures from Christmas, just three.

Even though Christmas came and went so fast this year we were able to get in some of the best parts of the season like hanging out with family, reading the Nativity story and eating really good food. Having to miss out on other things that I love made me appreciate Christmas even more and I look forward to next year when we can say that this is all behind us.

Taylee and Jacey made a bed on the stairs. It is so nice to have cousins around to play with.

Ryker and Jacey were the stars of our Nativity this year. We tried to get Aaron to be the donkey but he wouldn't go for it. These two looked great and did an awesome job.

Taylee had a really good time on Christmas Eve. After the kids acted out the Nativity, Grandpa got out his guitar and played Christmas songs for the kids to sing and dance to. They all had a really good time and we all laughed a lot. Family is the best.

We also went to Aaron's family's house on Christmas day, but my camera didn't last that long. We had lots of fun with family there too!

Before and After

We have had a lot of people ask if there is a significant difference in the way her belly looks now that her tumor is out. Well, as you can see the answer is yes.

This is Tay's belly days before surgery. It was bloated looking, but tight and hard. Her belly button really popped out and you can definatly see the bulge on her left side.

This is obviously her beautiful belly after surgery, I mean right after surgery. You can already tell that her stomach is softer and the bulge is gone and her belly button isn't popping out quite so far.

It was a little difficult to see my baby girl hooked up to so much stuff. When she came out of surgery she had an IV in her foot and in her hand. She was hooked up to moniters for her heart rate, breathing and oxygen levels. She had a folly in and an epiderhal, plus a tube in her nose. She was quite a sight to see and we celebrated every time we got to take something off of her.

Her belly is looking even better now. All her bandages are off and it looks like a really healthy scar. If you can imagine, she is even skinnier then before (obviously with a huge tumor out of the way) but she is feeling great and looking great. Aaron and I agree that we will probably not have to fight with Taylee about wearing a bikini :)

Our Time at the Hospital

Even though staying at the hospital wasn't exactly what we wanted to be doing, we were able to spend some real quality time together as a family. This kind of experience helps you remember how much your family means to you and man do I love my husband and my little girl!

We did a lot of waiting around. This was on day 1 at the hospital and I think we spent about 3 hours in this waiting room just waiting around for a room.

This was surgery day (so ignore the great hair I have), but Tay was done and was doing well. That explains my big smile.

After surgery, Taylee was hooked up to so many tubes which made it hard to move her, but her daddy just needed to hold her for a while.

Thank You Just Isn't Enough

Grama Sillito and Gram Alldredge

I don't know how to thank either of Taylee's wonderful gramas enough for everything they did for us while we were in the hospital. One or both of them were there every single day, driving through the snow and giving up all other plans and obligations to be there for me and for Taylee. Aaron was gone for a good couple days and I don't know how I would have handled things if I didn't have one of them there to keep me company and keep me sane. They helped me understand and work through things that were hard, helped think of the right questions to ask, help calm me down when I got stressed out, helped distract Taylee when she had to go through something hard and helped keep her busy while I dealt with other things. We moved hospital rooms three times and they made sure it was decked out for Christmas and the cupboards had food. They brought in so much stuff, it took Aaron 3 trips to the car (with the wagon overflowing) to get it all packed up. They made sure I had everything thing I needed and thought of everything! I don't know if either of them know how much I needed them and how grateful I am to them for everything they did. If I haven't told you enough, THANK YOU!

I think you should both know too, if it isn't obvious, how much Taylee adores you both. You both have invested so much time and effort into developing a relationship with her and that means so much to me to know she has two wonderful role models who love her and would do anything for her. Thank you for being such amazing gramas! We couldn't ask for any better!

Thank Goodness for so Many Visitors!

As most of you already know, we spent about a week and a half living at Seattle Children's Hospital. The hospital is amazing and has lots of things for kids to do like a fun play room with lots of toys, paints, movies, play-doh and more. They had little play stations in every waiting area and it is decorated and set up to be attractive and fun for kids. As helpful as all that stuff is, nothing compares to having friends and family come to visit!

Taylee and Broden fighting over Jacey's lap.

Either my mom or Aaron's mom were there every single day that we were. Taylee really loved having her Gram around!

Tay and Addi riding around the halls of the hospital, probably off to see Mickey or the fishees.

There were so many aquariums all over the hospital with a "Nemo" in every one. This one in the cafeteria was by far the best.

This giant Mickey Mouse is Tays favorite. We walk by him still on our way to chemo and she either has to honk his nose or give him a high five. Last week she put stickers on his buttons.

Even Ammon came to hang out with his two bossy girl cousins!

Thank you to eveyone who took the time and effort to come and see us. It truly helped the time pass by. The weather was awful and some drove far and some drove often to show their support and I hope everyone knows how much we love and appreciate you!

Such a cutie!!

I know I just posted about Brynlee, but I just got these new pictures of her with her big brown eys wide open and I couln't resist showing off how beautiful this girl is! It's so not fair that I haven't got to hold her yet! I can't tell if she looks more like Lacey or Brad, but either way, she is ADORABLE!